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Reba: Duets
Reba: Duets is the twenty fourth studio album by American country music artist, Reba McEntire. The album was released September 18, 2007 on MCA Nashville Records and September 24, 2007 on Humphead Records in the UK, and was produced by Tony Brown, Dann Huff, McEntire, and Justin Timberlake. Reba: Duets was McEntire's second album to appear in the new millennium decade and one of her most successful crossover albums,as it is her first studio album to chart in Australia and her third to chart in the UK. It was her first album to peak at number one on the Billboard 200, while also reaching number one on the Top Country Albums chart, and was also her final release for the MCA Nashville label. The album featured collaborations from eleven different artists in the genres of Country, Pop, and Rock. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart and the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart with sales of 300,000. Background Reba: Duets was recorded at Starstruck Studios in Nashville, Tennessee. Allmusic reviewer, Thom Jurek considered that the quality of the album's tracks were different than that of most other collaboration projects, calling it a "mixed bag" of material. The first collaborator on the album was LeAnn Rimes, who recorded the track, "When You Love Someone Like That" which also appeared on LeAnn Rimes's Family album that same year. Jurek called the duet between the pair "stellar," while about.com called the pairing "an undeniable outcome of perfection. Reba's strong country voice with LeAnn's young, soulful sound created a new sound like no other." The second track, "Does That Wind Still Blow In Oklahoma" was a collaboration with Ronnie Dunn (half of the duo Brooks & Dunn), whom co-wrote the song with McEntire. The third track is a duet with Kelly Clarkson on one of her previous major pop hits, "Because of You". The song was the album's lead single and had already peaked at number two on the Hot Country Songs chart at the time of the album's release. The song was criticized by allmusic, saying that, "the song is simply a big, overblown power ballad with guitars compressed to the breaking point, sweeping strings, and enormous crashing cymbals -- think Jim Steinman and you get it." The same idea was also said about the fourth track, "Faith In Love" with Rascal Flatts. The fifth track was performed with country artist, Trisha Yearwood on the song, "She Can't Save Him", which was formerly released as a single by Canadian country artist, Lisa Brokop. Tracks six and seven were collaborations with American pop artist, Carole King and country artist, Kenny Chesney, who both help in providing musical variations towards the album. Track seven, called "Every Other Weekend", was released as the album's third and final single. Country Standard Time called track nine (a collaboration with Faith Hill called "Sleeping with the Telephone") "tearful emotion." The tenth track was a duet with Justin Timberlake on the song, "The Only Promise That Remains", which was co-written by Timberlake himself. The song is performed in Celtic melody and Timberlake performs harmony on most of the song's length, it was released as the album's second single. The album closes with "Break Each Other's Hearts Again", a duet with Don Henley. Critical reception Reba: Duets gained fairly positive reviews from most music critics. Allmusic's Thom Jurek stated that although he considered it not to be a "perfect record", he did find the album to "deliver". Jurek concluded by saying, "It's sincere, it's polished, and it's full of good to great songs delivered in mostly interesting ways." In his review, he gave the album three and a half out of five stars. Reviewing the album, Rick Bell of Country Standard Time gave praise to McEntire and her production on the release, saying, "Give credit to McEntire for corralling the egos - including her own - and producing an album with depth, passion and a bunch of great voices." About.com's Scott Sexton gave Reba: Duets four and a half out of five stars, overall stating, "Reba McEntire has proven she can stand the test of time, and with some help from close friends she sounds better than ever." Reviewing Reba: Duets in 2007, Lana Cooper of PopMatters acclaimed McEntire's vocal strength in the album by saying, "Reba's voice manages to sound sweet without being syrupy, while being extremely powerful. McEntire's vocal strength yields a different kind of authority than the bluesy, drawling growl of Janis Joplin, the weathered rasp of Marianne Faithfull, or even the soul-shrieking powerhouse of Tina Turner. Instead, Reba's voice combines the aspects of all three singers but tempers it with a Southern sweetness and an unmistakable femininity." Cooper overall stated, "Reba Duets is largely a strong showing." Release and aftermath Reba: Duets was originally planned to be released in April 2007, however the date was pushed to September 18 instead. The lead single, "Because of You" was released to radio May 15 and reached a peak of number two on the Hot Country Songs chart and number fifty on the Billboard Hot 100 in August, shortly before the album's release date. A week after the album's release, it became the United States' best-selling album of the week, debuting at number one on both the Top Country Albums and Billboard 200 albums charts, selling a total of 300,536 copies in its first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It debuted at number four on the Canadian Album Charts. Reba Duets was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America in October 2007, becoming her twentieth platinum album. The album's second single, "The Only Promise That Remains" (with Justin Timberlake) was released in November 2007, but only reached number seventy-two on the Billboard Pop 100 and did not chart the Hot Country Songs list. The third and final single, "Every Other Weekend" (with Kenny Chesney) was released in 2008. However, the official single featured Skip Ewing, who co-wrote the song, as the duet partner instead of Chesney, due to the Chesney version not being "viable" for radio (due to radio company issues). It charted outside the main UK top 100 album chart but has sold over 15,000 copies in the UK. McEntire and LeAnn Rimes performed their duet of "When You Love Someone Like That" at the 41st CMA Music Awards. Track listing | title1 = Outtakes from Reba | title2 = Interviews from the set of Reba |}} Personnel ;Musicians * Caroline Buckman – strings * Tom Bukovac – acoustic guitar, electric guitar * Ashley Cleveland – background vocals * Jay DeMarcus – bass * Paul Franklin – pedal steel guitar * Aubrey Haynie – fiddle, mandolin * Rob Ickes – Dobro * John Barlow Jarvis – piano * Kim Keyes – background vocals * Russ Kunkel – drums * Jay Dee Maness – pedal steel guitar * Reba McEntire – lead vocals * Chris McHugh – drums * Matt Morris – background vocals * Greg Morrow – drums * Nashville String Machine – strings * Steve Nathan – hammond organ * Jimmy Nichols – synthesizer * Alyssa Park – strings * Dean Parks – acoustic guitar, electric guitar * Matt Rollings – hammond organ, piano * Leland Sklar – bass * Jimmie Lee Sloas – bass * Judson Spence – background vocals * Michael Thompson – acoustic guitar, electric guitar * Ilya Toshinsky – acoustic guitar * Pete Wasner – piano * Bergen White – string arrangements, string conductor * Amy Wickman – strings * Glenn Worf – upright bass * Curtis Wright – background vocals * Jenifer Wrinkle – background vocals ;Technical personnel * Chuck Ainlay – engineering, mixing * Craig Allen – art direction, design * Kazuri Arai – assistant * Chris Ashbrun – assistant * Adam Ayan – mastering * Jeff Balding – engineering * Marc Baptiste – photography * Derek Bason – engineering, mixing * Chris Bell – engineering * Narvel Blackstock – manangement * David Bryant – assistant * Mike Butler – engineering * Tony Castle – digital editing * Jim Cooley – assistant * Richard Anthony Davis – digital editing * Ben Fowler – engineering * Brett Freedman – make-up, hairstylist * Amy Garges – production assistant * Steve Genewick – assistant * Terry Gordon – stylist, wardrobe * Mark Hagen – engineering * Nate Hertweck – engineering * Jean-Marie Horvat – mixing * Aaron Kasdoff – assistant * Jeff Kersey – engineer * Kyle Lehning – engineering, mixing * Steve Marcantonio – mixing * Colin Miller – assistant * J.C. Monterrosa – assistant * Jeff Rothschild – engineer * Matt Rovey – assistant * Al Schmitt – engineering * Tod Tidwell – assistant * Brian David Willis – digital editing * Casey Wood – assistant Charts Weekly charts End of year charts Singles Reference Category:Studio album Category:Albums featuring LeAnn Rimes